8_7_24 Planning Board Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Approved 9.4.24 Charity Kirk: I have an aside really quick about how often do wells run dry in Orange County due to 313 new developments, because this keeps coming up, this comes up in almost everything 314 where neighbors are worried about wells running dry, so just how often does it happen? 315 Patrick Mallett: I'm not Environmental Health, but I don't know of any wells running dry. I think some of the 316 issues and concerns have been over the years, is how much pressure and is there going 317 to be an impact on my well versus your well. Orange County has the subsurface, we're 318 not like a coastal plain community, there's not a, you can take it to the bank, you dig 6 feet 319 down you're going to hit the water table and so ultimately the impact, if you drill one well 320 here and one well there, they may or may not be draining from the same water source in 321 terms of quality, volume, and I can say a fair number of wells with recent development 322 have gone deeper to ensure that they've got enough of a water source and water 323 pressure. 324 Charity Kirk: Is this a health department question or who keeps track of the aquifers in the county? 325 Patrick Mallett: The health department is in charge of the wells. 326 Charity Kirk: Okay, so the health department would be aware. 327 Patrick Mallett: Yes, they are. Part of this journey to get you to this point includes staff review in the 328 planning department. We also take it to the Development Advisory Committee. All 329 development projects go through them and then they issue their memos. 330 Charity Kirk: How often does the health department flag something as being a potential problem? 331 Patrick Mallett: I can't remember a single case where they've said no, definitely, this could be a problem. 332 Charity Kirk: So, it's very much trusting the engineers who look at these, okay, thank you. 333 Patrick Mallett: It takes a lot of money to get to this point so there is some confidence and if they're wrong 334 then they're on the hook for that error. 335 Charity Kirk: That they can provide water to this property. Okay, thank you. 336 Chris Johnston: I apologize for butting in, but if it is affected, for instance, who's on the hook for that? Is it 337 the homeowner who now has the affected well or is it the nearby property that just went in 338 X, Y, Z. Do they have to prove cause? 339 Patrick Mallett: I think that that would ultimately take a journey through civil litigation and attorneys and 340 I'm not an attorney. 341 Chris Johnston: Nope, that's fine. Thank you. 342 Adam Beeman: Any other questions? 343 Lamar Proctor: I make a motion to recommend approval of the preliminary plat to the Board of County 344 Commissioners as submitted finding it's in conformity with Article 7 of the UDO. 345 Statler Gilfillen: Second that again. 346 MOTION BY Lamar Proctor to approve the preliminary plat. Seconded by Statler Gilfillen. 347 MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY 348